Problems with my hard-disks

limsandy · 09-11-2008, 08:54 AM

Hello, all. I'm having problems with my hard-disks. These are the four that I currently own, although not all of them are used at the same time:

WD Raptor 74GB (SATA)
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L250R0 250GB (IDE)
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L250R0 250GB (IDE)
Brand new Seagate ST31000340AS 1TB (SATA) with SD15 firmware, made in Thailand.

One of the Maxtor drives is dying (clicking and very slow transfer speed) so I bought a brand new Seagate ST31000340AS to backup my data. If you read the reviews from newegg.com, you can find that many people are experiencing failures, especially those with firmware SD15 from Thailand. Mine is not yet dying, but it's showing symptoms. For example, sometimes during start-up, BIOS wouldn't recognize the drive and the hd would make clicking noise. So my quesiton is.... is it possible to request an RMA for the same drive with a different firmware, like SD04 from Singapore? I'm afraid they're gonna send me a replacement with the same firmware from Thailand and the hd would fail me again in no time.

Then I tried to copy a large file from one of the good Maxtor drives into the same drive. It takes approximately 19 seconds to copy a 348MB file, or roughly 18.3MB/sec. I did the same test to my Raptor drive, and to my surprise, it took 66 seconds to copy the same file to the same drive, or less than 5.3MB/sec! I also noticed that with the Maxtor drive, CPU utilization was between 0-7%. With the Raptor, it was 91-100%. Something is definitely wrong. Can anyone help me point out the error? I did a defrag on the Raptor before copying the file and it was still very slow. It has only 13.9GB free, 55.2 used space.

Any kind of help is very much appreciated and I thank you in advance. I am desperate....

PC eye · 09-11-2008, 10:46 PM

Assuming your OS drive is the WD Raptor model that would explain a longer period of time required for copying between drives over simply going between a second and third due the additional time it takes for accessing the host. The cpu reading is merely the quick spike seen if viewing the task manager and not a constant.

When simply opening up an explorer window you will also see an instant spike due to the request for cpu time and then notice the instant drop at the same time. Just opening up the performance tab will see a nearly 80% spike and that drops right down to 0%.

Each model drive will see only one firmware since that's how drives are manufactured. The only item that can see a change by sending in to the manufacturer is not rmaing but requesting a different bios version on the replacement bios eprom when the first one fails. Companies like Asus will ask what bios version you want on a replacement.

If the drive is new or very recent the only thing you can expect to see is that drive replaced if not refurbished. With bad heads they will simply toss that one and send out a replacement for a small restocking fee and shipping. Any updates for the firmware would be found at Maxtor's support site.

limsandy · 09-12-2008, 08:07 AM

Actually, the CPU utilization was constant during the whole copying-of-data period, which is weird. I just re-installed the drivers for the SATA controller from NVIDIA's website and that took care of the high CPU utilization problem.

Interesting.... I didn't know I can request for a specific firmware from a manufacturer. I will definitely ask them. Thanks.

PC eye · 09-13-2008, 12:23 AM

For a bios eprom that's simply which version of the Phoenix-Award, AMI, or other bios programming you want on a replacement chip. Basically that could the one seen when the board is first new or a later update which often sees a correction of some type. When sending in a board for refurbishing that's one thing they will ask.

For drives you have to online direct to the manufacturer's support site to look over the updates available as well as any drive utilities like Western Digital's LifeGuard tools for that brand. The correct drivers for the model board you have however were needed and saw the problem you were having cleared up right away.

09-11-2008, 08:54 AM	#1 (permalink)
limsandy New Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 2	Problems with my hard-disks Hello, all. I'm having problems with my hard-disks. These are the four that I currently own, although not all of them are used at the same time: WD Raptor 74GB (SATA) Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L250R0 250GB (IDE) Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L250R0 250GB (IDE) Brand new Seagate ST31000340AS 1TB (SATA) with SD15 firmware, made in Thailand. One of the Maxtor drives is dying (clicking and very slow transfer speed) so I bought a brand new Seagate ST31000340AS to backup my data. If you read the reviews from newegg.com, you can find that many people are experiencing failures, especially those with firmware SD15 from Thailand. Mine is not yet dying, but it's showing symptoms. For example, sometimes during start-up, BIOS wouldn't recognize the drive and the hd would make clicking noise. So my quesiton is.... is it possible to request an RMA for the same drive with a different firmware, like SD04 from Singapore? I'm afraid they're gonna send me a replacement with the same firmware from Thailand and the hd would fail me again in no time. Then I tried to copy a large file from one of the good Maxtor drives into the same drive. It takes approximately 19 seconds to copy a 348MB file, or roughly 18.3MB/sec. I did the same test to my Raptor drive, and to my surprise, it took 66 seconds to copy the same file to the same drive, or less than 5.3MB/sec! I also noticed that with the Maxtor drive, CPU utilization was between 0-7%. With the Raptor, it was 91-100%. Something is definitely wrong. Can anyone help me point out the error? I did a defrag on the Raptor before copying the file and it was still very slow. It has only 13.9GB free, 55.2 used space. Any kind of help is very much appreciated and I thank you in advance. I am desperate....

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09-11-2008, 10:46 PM	#2 (permalink)
PC eye banned Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 21,091	Assuming your OS drive is the WD Raptor model that would explain a longer period of time required for copying between drives over simply going between a second and third due the additional time it takes for accessing the host. The cpu reading is merely the quick spike seen if viewing the task manager and not a constant. When simply opening up an explorer window you will also see an instant spike due to the request for cpu time and then notice the instant drop at the same time. Just opening up the performance tab will see a nearly 80% spike and that drops right down to 0%. Each model drive will see only one firmware since that's how drives are manufactured. The only item that can see a change by sending in to the manufacturer is not rmaing but requesting a different bios version on the replacement bios eprom when the first one fails. Companies like Asus will ask what bios version you want on a replacement. If the drive is new or very recent the only thing you can expect to see is that drive replaced if not refurbished. With bad heads they will simply toss that one and send out a replacement for a small restocking fee and shipping. Any updates for the firmware would be found at Maxtor's support site.

09-12-2008, 08:07 AM	#3 (permalink)
limsandy New Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 2	Actually, the CPU utilization was constant during the whole copying-of-data period, which is weird. I just re-installed the drivers for the SATA controller from NVIDIA's website and that took care of the high CPU utilization problem. Interesting.... I didn't know I can request for a specific firmware from a manufacturer. I will definitely ask them. Thanks.

09-13-2008, 12:23 AM	#4 (permalink)
PC eye banned Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 21,091	For a bios eprom that's simply which version of the Phoenix-Award, AMI, or other bios programming you want on a replacement chip. Basically that could the one seen when the board is first new or a later update which often sees a correction of some type. When sending in a board for refurbishing that's one thing they will ask. For drives you have to online direct to the manufacturer's support site to look over the updates available as well as any drive utilities like Western Digital's LifeGuard tools for that brand. The correct drivers for the model board you have however were needed and saw the problem you were having cleared up right away.